How Valuable Are You to Employers?

Whether it’s your current employer or the company(ies) you’ll be targeting in your next job search, the question of your value takes center stage. If you can’t answer the question posed by this post, you’re probably in trouble! Employers flat-out will not take the time and effort to figure it out for you.

Your Needs vs. Employer Needs

You need or want a new job, maybe a new direction involving a career change or an opportunity to advance in your profession. That’s what you’re after, but what about the employers you’re focusing on? More than likely, they don’t particularly care that you want to earn more money or move up the corporate ladder or whatever else your personal goal is.

So what do they care about or need? Probably one of the first items on their list is an employee who can contribute a lot more value than it will cost to hire and keep that person! In other words, someone who can contribute value from day one and quickly make a positive difference to the company’s success. That person might need a number of qualifications and qualities–motivating leader, enthusiastic team player, X number of years of solid experience in a given area, and so on.

The ultimate question still remains: Can you do the job that’s needed, do it well and (probably) quickly, in a way that validates the company’s initial decision to offer you the job?

How to Determine Your Value to Employers

I can’t begin to list here all the factors that could play into your value to employers, but the following is a small sampling:

You have a realistic grasp of what you can bring to employers and are confident about your abilities in that regard. You don’t over-sell or under-sell yourself in interviews, for example.

You do your homework ahead of time with regard to your competition and the market for your skills, expertise and knowledge-base. Among other things, that means you take the time to research what’s “out there” and honestly evaluate how you stack up against the competition. What do you have that they don’t?

You also research the company you’re targeting, as well as its industry and its competitors. Then you assess how your qualifications and strengths fit into that picture. What are likely to be your greatest advantages and how can you make the most of them?

You understand that value isn’t only about money. Yes, you want to earn as much as you can and the company wants to maximize its profitability, but that’s not all there is to your value. For instance, can you get a team of people who don’t much like each other or are territorial to work together effectively on a critical project? Not everyone can do that, so if you can, you just might have an edge.

You are willing and able to put out a great effort to help the company achieve its goals, rather than counting the minutes until 5:00 p.m. every day. At the same time, you don’t want to provide that degree of commitment and dedication to an employer that won’t appreciate or reward it appropriately.

Good salespeople know that it’s about benefits (value) versus features (laundry list). When you’re engaged in a job search, the benefits you can bring to your next employer are critically important.